Wheeled rack

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a wheeled rack for mounting on the side of a trailer for pushing the trailer on edge during stowing, the rack comprising two identical members each having a plurality of rollers and a means for attachment to the frame of the trailer by means of a slidable rod which rigidly secures the frame to the trailer.

United States Patent Bjerne Sollie Jar, Norway Apr. 15, 1969 Aug. 10.l97l Wideroe lndustri A.S Oslo, Norway Apr. 18, 1968 Norway InventorAppl No. Filed Patented Assignee Priority IWIIEELED RACK 3 Claims, 5Drawing Figs.

US. Cl Int. Cl.

Field of Search 280/150 A Bv 27/00 280/34,

4l5,47.27, A, 79.1; ISO/1,89

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l,594,637 8/1926 Pelton /13.437,353 4/1969 Cange 280/415 FOREIGN PATENTS 766,217 3/1954 GreatBritain 180/89 Primary Examiner Leo Friaglia Assistant Examiner-RobertR. Song Anomeys-Tourover and Browdy and Browdy and Neimark ABSTRACT: Thepresent invention relates to a wheeled rack for mounting on the side ofa trailer for pushing the trailer on edge during stowing, the rackcomprising two identical members each having a plurality of rollers anda means for attachment to the frame of the trailer by means of aslidable rod which rigidly secures the frame to the trailer.

WHEELED RACK The present invention relates to a wheeled rack formounting on the side of a trailer for pushing said trailer on edgeduring stowing. The invention is especially adapted for use inconnection with campers that may be folded into a relatively small andcompact trailer, as such campers may be stowed away in a garage by usingsuch a wheeled rack without occupying any substantial floor area.

The wheeled rack of the invention requires that the trailer on at leastone side has a hollow profile at both ends, each profile extendingtransversely of the trailer and serving as a guide for a horizontal,slidable rod that may be locked in a position in which it is fullypushed into the profile, the red at its extremity carrying a support fora pivotal cover of the trailer. Foldable campers corresponding to thisdescription are known. In these campers the slidable rod and the hollowprofile are quadratic in cross section. In the folded condition of thecamper, the support for the cover extends horizontally. When the camperis unfolded, the rod is pulled out of the profile, turned 90 and againinserted into the profile with the support in a vertical position. Thelength of the support may be adjustable in order to support the extendedcover in the proper position despite irregularities of the ground. Forcampers of this kind a wheeled rack has been disclosed consisting of twosubstantially identical members, each including a frame carrying tworollers and comprising a portion for attachment of the frame to thetrailer. The attachment portion is constituted by a rod having the samecross section as the slidable rod so as to be insertable into the hollowprofile when the rod carrying the support has been removed.

Such a wheeled rack does'solve the problem in a satisfactory manner ofpermitting the camper to be stowed on edge so as to occupy a minimum ofspace. It has, however, a disadvantage in that the rods carrying thesupports for the cover must be removed, and these parts must be stowedseparately and thereby may be damagedor mislaid.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a wheeledrack that may securely and easily be attached to a trailer of the kindreferred to without requiring any parts of the trailer to be removed.

According to the invention this is achieved in that the attachmentportion is adapted to grip the support at the extremity of the rod whenextended, and further to engage other parts of the trailer when the rodis pushed into its locked position, whereby the slidable rod rigidlysecures the frame to the trailer.

A wheeled rack according to the invention will now be described in moredetail, reference being had to the drawing, which illustrates apreferred embodiment.

FIG. 1 illustrates a folded trailing camper standing on edge on awheeled rack according to the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates one side of the trailer during mounting of thewheeled rack;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the said-one side of the trailer, partly insection taken along the lineIll-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view of one of the frame members of a wheeled rackaccording to the invention in a position in which the frame memberengages-the support and a further profile of the trailer chassis andbears against the hinge of the trailer cover; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view ofthe chassis of the trailer with the framemember mounted, viewed along the line V-V in FIG. 4.

FIG. 1 illustrates a folded trailing camper 1, having a connecting-rod2, road wheels 3-and two pivotal covers that are hinged at along thesides ofthe trailer. In FIG. 1 the tailer l is illustrated on edge, awheeled rack consisting of two frames 5, each carrying two rollers 6,being mounted on one side of the trailer. The trailer 1 may be pushed onthe rollers 6 by hand for stowing of the trailer in a garage forexample.

The frame Sisillustrated in more detail in FIGS. 4 and 5.

As shown in FIG. 4 the frame is F-shaped. The frame may be welded fromhollow rectangular profiles, e.g. aluminum profiles. At each end of theframe there is provided a plate 7 serving as an attachment portion forthe rollers 6, which are not illustrated in FIG. 5 and are onlyindicated in broken lines in FIG. 4. The body 8 of the trailer, which inFIGS. 4 and 5 is merely illustrated by dot-dash lines, is'carried by achassis 9 comprising longitudinally and transversely extending hollowprofiles l0 and 11 respectively, and an angle bar 12 extending along thehollow profile 11. The end of the profile 11 is open, said profileserving as a guide for a horizontal slidable'rod 13, which at itsextremity carries a support assembly shown generally as 14 for the cover4 in the unfolded condition thereof. When the camper l is in unfoldedcondition and is to be hauled by a vehicle it is intended that thesupport assembly 14 should be in a horizontal position as bestillustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5. The rod 13 may then be locked in aposition in which it is fully pushed into the profile and in which thesupport assembly 14 is positioned below the body of the trailer. Thelocking is effected by a device that is diagrammatically illustrated at15 in FIG. 5. When the support assembly 14 is to be used to support acover 4, the locking device 15 is suspended, whereupon the rod 13 ispulled out of the profile 10, turned about its longitudinal axis andagain inserted into the profile, however this time with the supportassembly 14 in a vertical position. At one end the support assembly 14carries a plate 16 adapted to rest on the ground and in this situationthe assembly serves as a jack, or prop, as will be more obvioushereinafter. The support 14 is telescopic, the support consisting of anouter tube 17 which is rigidly welded to rod 13 and extends at rightangles to the rod to form essentially a T- configuration and an innerrod 19 to which the plate 16 is attached inner rod 19 being displaceablewithin the outer tube 17 and lockable in any desired position dependenton the level of the ground. From the above description then, it shouldbe clear that when support assembly 14 is used to support cover 4, inits open state, the assembly functions as a prop to hold the cover levelwith the ground. The slidable rod 13 is inserted in the profile 11 sothat tube 17, welded to rod 13, extends vertically permitting inner rod19 which telescopes into tube 17, to be extended until plate 16 which iswelded to the outer end of rod 19 contacts the ground. At this pointouter tube 17 and inner rod 19 are locked together.

As previously stated the frame is F-shaped, such frame consisting of ahollow rod 20 having two perpendicularly protruding rod portions 21 and22 respectively. The rod portion 22 carries a device adapted to grip thesupport 14 and engage the chassis 9 of the trailer in such a way thatthe frame 5 is rigidly secured to the trailer when the rod 13 is lockedby the locking device 15 in the fully inserted position of the rod. Atthe end of the rod portion 21 there is provided a rest 24 for a hinge 25of the cover 4. When the frame 5 engages the support 14 and the latteris pushed fully into locked position below the body 8, the rest 24 isforced firmly against the hinge 25, whereby the frame 5 is rigidly andsecurely attached to the trailer.

The means of the rod' portion 22 adapted to grip the support 14 andengage the chassis 9 primarily consist of a structure 26 that in plan isU-shaped, the yoke of the structure being constituted by an angle bar 27welded to the end of the rod portion 22. The two legs 28 and 29 of thestructure 26 extend above and beyond the horizontal support 14, and eachleg carries a depending pin 30 spaced such a distance from the angle bar27 that the support 14 will be a narrow fit between each pin 30 and ayielding cushion 31 attached to the angle bar 27 opposite each pin 30. Asimilar yielding cushion 32 is also attached to the underside of thelegs 28 and 29, and the pin 30is covered by a sleeve of plastic materialin order to protect the support from damage when the U-structure 26 ispressed down over the support with one leg 28 and 29 respectively oneither side of the connection between the support and the slidable rod13 as illustrated in FIG. 5.

The U-structure 26 is pressed down on the support 14 in a position inwhich the rod 13 is pulled a short distance outwardly in the guide 11.The rod 13 is then pushed into its locking position. In this positionthe leg 28 of the U-structure 26 will lie below one leg of the angle bar12. At the extremity of the leg 29 there is provided a depending portion33 carrying a tongue 34 that engages the hollow profile on the undersidethereof when the rod 13 is pushed into locking position. Because the leg28 and the tongue 34 of the leg 29 protrude below the angle bar 12 andthe hollow profile 10 respectively, the frame 5 cannot be taken off fromthe support 14 when the rod 13 is pushed into locking position.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides a wheeled rack for thepurpose stated, in which the rod 13 carrying the support l4 cannot beremoved when the wheeled rack is mounted, but on the contrary is used toprovide a reliable securing of the wheeled rack to the trailer.

What I claim is:

l. A wheeled rack for mounting on the side of a trailer for supportingand moving said trailer on edge during stowing comprising a hollowprofile extending transversely across each end of the trailer andforming a part thereof, said profile serving as a horizontal guide;

a slidable rod for insertion into said profile;

locking means for securing said rod to said profile when the rod hasbeen fully pushed into said profile;

a support assembly integrally attached to said rod near its outerextremity for supporting a pivotal cover of the trailer; I

a rack for each end of the trailer;

a plurality of rollers mounted on each rack;

an attachment portion integrally attached to each rack; and

gripping means on the attachment portion for gripping the support wherethe rod is extended and for engaging said hollow profile when the rod ispushed into its locked position, whereby the rod rigidly secures theframe to the trailer.

2. A wheeled rack in accordance with claim 1 wherein each said frame isF-shaped comprising an elongated member having two perpendicularlyprotruding portions, one of said perpendicularly protruding portionscarrying said attachment portion.

3. A wheeled rack in accordance with claim 2 wherein the other of saidperpendicularly protruding portions has a rest at the end thereofadapted to engage a hinge of said pivotal cover.

1. A wheeled rack for mounting on the side of a trailer for supportingand moving said trailer on edge during stowing comprising a hollowprofile extending transversely across each end of the trailer andforming a part thereof, said profile serving as a horizontal guide; aslidable rod for insertion into said profile; locking means for securingsaid rod to said profile when the rod has been fully pushed into saidprofile; a support assembly integrally attached to said rod near itsouter extremity for supporting a pivotal cover of the trailer; a rackfor each end of the trailer; a plurality of rollers mounted on eachrack; an attachment portion integrally attached to each rack; andgripping means on the attachment portion for gripping the support wherethe rod is extended and for engaging said hollow profile when the rod ispushed into its locked position, whereby the rod rigidly secures theframe to the trailer.
 2. A wheeled rack in accordance with claim 1wherein each said frame is F-shaped comprising an elongated memberhaving two perpendicularly protruding portions, one of saidperpendicularly protruding portions carrying said attachment portion. 3.A wheeled rack in accordance with claim 2 wherein the other of saidperpendicularly protruding portions has a rest at the end thereofadapted to engage a hinge of said pivotal cover.